In Summon Night 3, the main character is assigned as a bodyguard to one of four students. At the beginning, your ship comes under attack by pirates, whom eventually join you as you explore this mysterious island. In addition to exploring mechanical ruins and fighting off the ever-present invading Empire soldiers, the main character finds themselves possessed with the ability to transform into a super-powered being, which seems to be taunting them with gifts of strength.

Characters

Rexx

The male protagonist.

Aty

The female protagonist.

Nup

One of the four potential students you need to defend. Has a mechanical guardian beast named Arle.

Belfraw

Another of the students. Has a guardian beast named Onipi that looks like a cutesy floating bomb.

Will

Yet another of the students. Has a cat-like guardian beast named Teko.

Alieze

And still yet another of the students. Has an angel like guardian beast name Cuepi.

With the move to the PlayStation 2, Summon Night finally uses 3D rotatable landscapes, as well as different levels of zoom. All of the sprites are high-res and look substantially better than anything Nippon Ichi has put out on the platform. In fact, the artwork in general is much better than the previous two games.

Summon Night 3 is really the only installment that brings anything new to the table. For instance, certain summon magic can also be combined into a more powerful spells. There are parts of the environment that are destructible and can be used to damage enemies (or yourself, if you're not careful.) The main character has an alternate super powered form which is either triggered manually or whenever they're killed. While using this will make battles a lot easier, it will also increase your "karma" rating, which in turn can lead to a bad ending. It's a similar concept to the D-Ratio system in Breath of Fire V, although not nearly as strict.

Also new is the "Brave Clear" system. If you can beat a scenario under certain conditions - you must not be overleveled, you can't use too many healing items, and no one can die - then you'll get awarded with Party Abilities, which grant a variety of bonuses amongst your characters. It gives incentive to use some strategy to get through battles instead of simply grinding to beat them.

In Summon Night 4, your characters are making a living by running a restaurant in a small village in the empire. This quiet life is disrupted when a meteor crashes from outer space, containing a small dragon child. Not only are their evil human soldiers after this, but other visitors from beyond the sky, also seeking the power of the dragon for themselves.

Characters

Ray

The male protagonist.

Fair

The female protagonist.

Corlal

One of the three dragon children. Rather docile and quiet.

Lyurm

Another of the three dragon children. A bit of a troublesome brat.

Milreaf

Yet another of the three dragon children. Refers to the protagonist as "mama" or "papa".

Lisher

One of the hero's best friends. Wears a massively ridiculous hat.

Lushean

Lisher's little brother. Devoted, but a bit timid and weak.

Summon Night 4 introduces a support character, which cannot be controlled normally, but randomly pops into battle to heal characters or give them status boosts. (Through a good portion of the game, it's the main Pominitt, who can be drafted as a secret playable character late in the game.) Like the Tales Of... games, there's now a cooking system where you can combine various ingredients to obtain new items. New segments of the battlefield are also revealed as fights go on, similar to Makai Kingdom.